Halliburton Sees Drillers `Tap the Brakes’ on Shale Boom

Written by David Wethe @ Bloomberg

Halliburton Co., promising to be disciplined in adding more fracking gear to the oilfields, says U.S. explorers are “tapping the brakes” on drilling as the price of oil struggles to breach $50 a barrel. The comments come days after Baker Hughes data found that explorers reduced the number of U.S. rigs for the second time in four weeks. The decline and the statements by Halliburton, the world’s biggest provider of fracking services, could bolster confidence that spending by the shale industry may be slowing as efforts by OPEC and its allies to raise oil prices have faltered. … “Today, rig count growth is showing signs of plateauing and customers are tapping the brakes,” Halliburton Executive Chairman Dave Lesar said on a call. “This demonstrates that individual companies are making rational decisions in the best interest of their shareholders. The comments came after Halliburton reported that it swung to a profit in the second quarter as revenue rose 29 percent from a year earlier to $4.96 billion. That’s more than $1 billion higher than the company reported a year earlier.